Fastening system

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a fastening system, comprising at least one holding part ( 7 ) which can be fitted to a component ( 1 ) and which, on one side, has a flat carrier part ( 29 L- 35 ), which is provided with adhering or hooking elements ( 15 ) projecting on one side and, on the opposite side, has at least one fastener ( 17 ), and which is characterized in that there is a sealing device ( 31; 41 ), at least on the fastener ( 17 ).

The invention relates to a fastening device, consisting of at least one holding part attachable to a component, which has a flat carrier part on one side, which is provided with adhering or hooking elements protruding on one side, and has at least one fastening means on the opposite side.

Fastening devices of the above-mentioned type are prior art, see DE 10 2008 007 913 A1 or DE 10 2010 027 394 A1. As a component of a number of fastening units of a fastening system, such fastening devices may be used, inter alia, to fix third components on pre-definable points of components, whether they are parts of motor vehicles, trains, ships, or aircraft. Such third components can be, for example, plates on body parts of motor vehicles, panels or other planar coverings, for example, to conceal unattractive positions, or also planar coverings for heat and/or sound insulation.

Because the connection between the relevant component and the third component to be fixed thereon is produced by an adhesive bond instead of by screwing, riveting, or nailing, in that adhering or hooking elements, which are located on a fastener part of the holding part of the fastening device, are brought into adhesive engagement with a corresponding fastener part on the third component, on the one hand, a substantial reduction of the installation effort results, and, on the other hand, the special advantage results that during the production of the adhesive bond, position tolerances between the component and the third component can be compensated for via the fastening system so that more efficient and cost-effective manufacturing is also achievable, because narrow tolerance limits do not have to be observed.

Proceeding from this prior art, the invention has the object of providing a fastening device of the type mentioned at the outset, which is distinguished by more universal usage possibilities in relation to the prior art.

According to the invention, this object is achieved by a fastening device, which has the features of Patent Claim 1 in its entirety.

According to the invention, the invention is distinguished in that at least one seal unit is provided on the fastening means. The fastening device according to the invention may thus also be used without difficulties at positions at which a harmful access of media, such as moisture, via the fastening means to the third component must be avoided. In the known solution according to DE 10 2008 007 913 A1, an adhesive bond between the relevant component and the holding part is provided as the fastening means to avoid liquid access. To also ensure reliable use under usage conditions in which particular thermal stresses can occur, as is the case in motor vehicle applications, for example, a temperature-resistant adhesive must be used in this case, however, whereby the disadvantage of higher costs results.

In a particularly advantageous manner, the fastening device according to the invention may be implemented such that the fastening means has at least one protruding pin, which is provided for the engagement in a fastening hole of the component, wherein the seal unit forms a seal between the holding part and the fastening hole. In this case, the arrangement can be made so that the seal unit has a seal element arranged on the respective pin.

A particularly simple and secure seal may be implemented in this case in that a seal ring is arranged on the respective pin as a seal element.

As an alternative construction of a corresponding seal element, a bushing, which can be placed like a hat on the pin, having a flange-type opening edge, can be provided, wherein the opening edge has the shape of a seal ring enclosing the pin.

Independently of the design of the respective seal element, the fastening device according to the invention may also be used in sensitive regions, for example, at positions which are subjected in vehicles to moisture and soiling, with little effort, for example, in regions between shell construction vehicle body columns and door sill plates, where a secure, moisture-tight seal is important at the respective fastening points.

With regard to the design of the fastening means, the arrangement can advantageously be made so that at least one securing part is implemented on the respective pin of the holding part, which forms a clip-type catch connection therewith upon engagement of the pin in the associated fastening hole of the component. The connection by means of clipping can be carried out rapidly and efficiently with extremely low installation effort.

In a particularly preferred embodiment of the fastening device according to the invention, it is provided that the axial spacing between the bottom side of the respective catch lug and the top side of the carrier part facing toward it is selected to be less than the total of the thickness dimensions of the preferably elastically yielding seal unit in its uncompressed starting state and the component in the adjoining region of its fastening hole. Furthermore, it is particularly preferably provided that, when the holding part is fixed on the component, the seal unit also presses as flatly against the carrier part as it does on the component on one side thereof, and the respective securing part on the opposite side of the component, which faces away from the seal unit, engages with this component at a pre-definable holding force, which results from the restoring force of the elastically pre-tensioned seal unit in its fixed state on the component.

With the above-described measures, using the elastically yielding seal unit, which thus restores itself into an original position, a pre-tension may be produced in the region of the components to be sealed to one another, which increases the sealing force action in this manner.

At least one catch lug, which splays apart from the respective pin in a yielding manner, can be provided as a securing part, which engages behind the edge of the relevant fastening hole in the securing position inserted into the fastening hole.

Preferably, two catch lugs, situated diametrically opposite to one another, are provided on the respective pin.

For particularly efficient and cost-effective manufacturing, holding parts, pins, and catch lugs can be integrally molded from plastic.

Furthermore, the arrangement can advantageously be made so that the respective carrier part is formed from a flat carrier plate, or is implemented as a spacer body to form a spacing between its footprint, provided for contact on the component, and the associated fastener part having the adhering or hooking elements, said spacer body having a rectangular shape having a depression, which forms the support surface for the adhesion closure part and is enclosed on the edges by a protruding frame.

Furthermore, the arrangement can advantageously be made so that the holding part, to form a spacing between its footprint provided for contact on the component and the associated fastener part having the adhering or hooking elements, has a spacer body having a rectangular shape having a depression, which forms the support surface for the adhesion closure part and is enclosed on the edges by a protruding frame. By way of such a spacer body, unequal structural heights, for example, within the third component, may be compensated for, wherein it is also possible to proceed so that spacer bodies having different structural heights can be used.

Regardless of whether the holding part has a structural height enlarged by a spacer body or not, the arrangement enables a centrally disposed pin to be provided as the fastening means on the rectangular footprint of the holding part provided for contact on the component.

Alternatively to a design of the pin with laterally protruding, yielding holding lugs, the securing parts can also be formed by grooves, which are provided on the outer side of the pin, having radially protruding ridges.

The subject matter of the invention is, according to Patent Claim 16, also a fastening system which has at least one fastening device according to one of the Patent Claims 1 to 15.

The invention is explained hereafter on the basis of exemplary embodiments shown in the drawing. In the figures:

FIG. 1 shows in an exploded drawing, schematically simplified and in partial section, the essential components of a fastening unit of a fastening system having an exemplary embodiment of the fastening device according to the invention;

FIG. 2 shows only the components of the fastening unit of FIG. 1, which are attached preinstalled on the component, which is to be fastened on the third component;

FIG. 3 shows a side view of only a first embodiment of the holding part, which forms the carrier for the fastener part, which is provided for attachment on the component located on the right in the figure;

FIG. 4 shows a variant embodiment of the carrier, with respect to FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 shows a perspective diagonal view, looking toward the top side of the carrier of FIG. 4, wherein the fastener part is omitted;

FIG. 6 shows a partially cutaway perspective diagonal view, which is enlarged by approximately a factor of 2 in relation to a practical embodiment, in an illustration shown in an exploded view of the components of the fastening unit of FIG. 1 provided for the preinstallation on the component; and

FIG. 7 shows a variant embodiment of the carrier having a seal unit assigned thereto in the form of a seal bushing.

FIG. 1 shows the components of a fastening unit 2, which has an exemplary embodiment of the fastening device according to the invention. The components are depicted in FIG. 1 in the disassembled state. In this case, a component on the right side is identified with 1, on which a third component 3, which is located on the left side in the figure, is to be fastened using the fastening device. In this case, it can be a cover, for example, in the form of a plate, a panel, or another covering element or the like, which is to be fastened as the third component 3 on the component 1. The latter can be a sheet-metal part of a shell construction body, for example, part of a vehicle body column on which the third component 3 in the form of a door sill plate, for example, is to be fastened. The component 1 has in each case one fastening hole 5 for respective fastening units 2 of the system, of which only one fastening unit is shown in FIG. 1. This enables, as explained hereafter, a clip connection using a holding part in the form of a carrier 7, on which a first fastener part 9 is located. A second fastener part 11, which corresponds to this fastener part 9, is attached on the third component 3 in a surface region which has a spatial relationship to the carrier 7, so that an adhesive engagement is producible between the first and second fastener parts 9 and 11 when the third component 3 is pressed against the carrier 7. When, as shown in FIG. 1, the second fastener part 11 has a larger surface area than the carrier 7 having the first fastener part 9, the adhesive engagement can also be performed with coarser tolerance of the positioning precision between the third component 3 and the carrier 7.

The attachment of the fastener parts 9 and 11 on the carrier 7 or on the third component 3, respectively, is preferably performed in such a manner that the respective carrier layer 13, which consists of plastic, and to which the mushroom-pin-type hooking elements 15 are connected, is glued to the associated carrier 7 or the third component 3. A pressure-sensitive adhesive with an acrylate base, or a so-called artificial rubber adhesive, can be provided for this purpose. However, adhesives having a moisture-cross-linking polyurethane are particularly preferably used as a permanent adhesive bond.

The respective fastening hole 5 in the component 1 is used, as already mentioned, to form a clip connection to the carrier 7 for the first fastener part 9. In the exemplary embodiments shown in FIGS. 2 to 6, the carrier 7 has, for forming the clip connection for each carrier 7, a fastening means in the form of a pin 17, which protrudes on the footprint 19, which is rectangular, or more precisely square in outline in the exemplary embodiments shown, at a central position. In the exemplary embodiments shown here, the pin 17 is molded integrally on the carrier 7, which is producible from plastic as an efficiently producible injection-molded part, for example, from polyamide 6 material or from an EBS material, in particular from PC ABS material (polycarbonate acrylonitrile butadiene styrene material). As can be inferred most clearly from FIGS. 1, 2, and 6, catch lugs 21 are provided on the pin 17 as securing parts, which form a safeguard by clipping for the clip connection to the component 1 upon insertion of the pin 7 into the associated fastening hole 5, said catch lugs being integrally molded with the pin 17, being movable in cutouts 25 of the hollow pin 17, and splaying away from one another. Upon the insertion of the pin 17 into the associated fastening hole 5, the catch lugs 21 are first moved toward one another and spread out again after passage through the hole 5, so that they engage behind the opening edge of the fastening hole 5 with catch surfaces 27 in the securing position. This installation state is shown in FIG. 2. FIGS. 3, 4, and 6 show the shape of the catch lugs 21 and the cutouts 25, which extend on both sides of the catch lugs 21 in the circular-cylindrical wall surface 23 of the hollow pin 17 in the axial direction.

To form a seal of the clip connection between the carrier 7 and the component 1, a seal unit associated with the clip connection is provided. As in the exemplary embodiments of FIGS. 1 to 6, it has a seal ring 31, which has the shape of a flat ring, as shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 6, and is preferably made of a synthetic rubber material. The seal ring 31 is arranged on the pin 17, as shown in FIG. 2, so that it presses against the footprint 19 of the carrier 7. In the preinstalled state shown in FIG. 2, in which the carrier 7 is fixed on the component 1 by clipping, the yielding seal ring 31 is pressed flat between the footprint 19 of the carrier 7 and the component 1 is applied thereon, in relation to the unloaded thickness shown in FIG. 1, such that a desired sealing force is active between footprint 19 and component 1. For this purpose, in adaptation to the respective material thickness of the component 1 and the thickness of the seal ring 31, the pin 17 of the carrier 7 is dimensioned such that the axial spacing between footprint 19 and the catch surfaces 27 on the catch lugs 21 generates the desired pre-tension on the seal ring 31 after the establishment of the clip connection, and the seal ring is accordingly pressed flat in relation to FIG. 1, as shown in FIG. 2.

FIGS. 3 to 5 show different embodiments of the carrier 7. In this case, FIG. 3 shows the same construction of the carrier as is provided in FIGS. 1 and 2. In this case, the carrier 7 forms, between the footprint 19 and the support surface for the layer 13 of the fastener part 9, a comparatively flat plate 29 of square outline. In contrast, FIGS. 4 and 5 show a construction in which the carrier 7 has a spacer body 35 having a square outline between the footprint 19 and the support surface 33 (FIG. 5) for the fastener part 9. The spacer body 35 forms a box-type component, using which a protruding frame 37 encloses the support surface 33 for the fastener part 9 (not shown in FIG. 5) at the edges. The layer 13 of the fastener part 9 (not shown in FIG. 5) can be received, fitting in the depression thus formed. By selecting the height of the respective spacer body 35, spacings of desired dimensions can be implemented between component 1 and third component 3 at the respective connection points, for example, to compensate for unequal structural heights of the components 1, 3 to be connected and/or to form intermediate spaces between the components 1, 3, in which functional elements, such as cables or lines, can be laid.

In the present exemplary embodiments, the hooking elements 15 of the fastener parts 9 and 11 are implemented in the manner of mushroom pins, wherein the respective mushroom pins are connected via bars or rods to the respective carrier layer 13. However, a fastener part in the form of a hook-and-loop material (not shown in greater detail) could also be provided on the part of the component 1 or the third component 3, which then hooks accordingly with the mushroom pins of the other fastener part. Furthermore, the possibility exists of forming an adhesive engagement of male closure elements, such as hooks, mushrooms, and the like, with female closure elements, such as loops. Various types of constructions which come into consideration are prior art, for example, in those embodiments which are disclosed in the above-mentioned documents of the prior art, DE 10 2008 007 913 A1 or DE 10 2010 027 394 A1.

FIG. 7 shows a variant shape of the pin 17, which is provided as the fastening means on the carrier 7, and the seal unit assigned thereto. Instead of yielding movable catch lugs 21 of the above-described example, the pin 17 in the example of FIG. 7 has grooves 39 having radially protruding waves, which establish the clip connection by being forced into the relevant fastening hole 5 with a slight plastic deformation of the plastic material of the carrier 7. Instead of a seal ring 31 seated on the pin 17, in this example, a seal bushing 41 is provided, which can be pressed onto the pin 17 like a hat. The bushing 41 is manufactured from a pliant material, for example, a synthetic rubber material, so that the flange-like opening edge 43 of the bushing 41 functions as a seal ring in the position placed on the pin 17, while the wall of the bushing 41 adapts to the grooves 39 of the pin 17, so that the clip connection comes into effect when the pin 17 is inserted together with the bushing 41 into the respective fastening hole 5.

In the present exemplary embodiments, a centrally arranged pin 17, which is integrally molded on the carrier 7, is provided as the fastening means on the footprint 19 of the carrier 7 in each case. It is obvious that more than one pin 17 can be provided on the carrier 7. The respective fastening means can also be formed by a separate component, which is fastened on the carrier 7, for example, by gluing or a screw connection. Instead of a pin 17 which is round on the whole, a nonround or polygonal element could be provided. This applies accordingly to the fastening hole 5. Instead of the round hole shown, nonround or polygonal openings could be provided on the component 1, which are dimensioned so that the clip connection takes place with securing parts on a protruding pin 17, whether it is round or has another shape. Instead of the ring 31 shown as a flat ring, another type of seal element could also be provided, for example, in the form of an O-ring or profile ring or the like. Instead of the square outline shape of the carrier 7, another rectangular shape, a polygonal shape, or a round or oval or other arbitrary type of outline shape could also be provided for the carrier 7. Instead of the usage of fastener parts 9, 11 having hooking elements 15 located on a carrier layer 13, these elements could be formed, for example, in the shape of mushroom pins, directly from the plastic material of the carrier 7. 

1. A fastening device, consisting of at least one holding part (7) attachable to a component (1), which has a planar carrier part (29; 35) on one side, which is provided with protruding adhering or hooking elements (15) on one side and has at least one fastening means (17) on the opposite side, characterized in that a seal unit (31; 41) is provided at least on the fastening means (17).
 2. The fastening device according to claim 1, characterized in that the respective fastening means has at least one protruding pin (17), which is provided for the engagement in a fastening hole (5) of the component (1), and the seal unit (31; 41) forms a seal between the holding part (7) and the fastening hole (5).
 3. The fastening device according to claim 1, characterized in that the seal unit is implemented as an elastically yielding seal element (31; 41).
 4. The fastening device according to claim 1, characterized in that the seal element (31; 41) is arranged on the respective pin (17).
 5. The fastening device according to claim 1, characterized in that a seal ring (31), which is penetrated by the pin (17), is arranged on the respective pin (17) as a seal element.
 6. The fastening device according to claim 1, characterized in that the seal unit has as a seal element a bushing (21), which can be placed on the pin (17) like a hat, having a flange-type opening edge (43), which has the form of a seal ring enclosing the pin (17).
 7. The fastening device according to claim 1, characterized in that at least one securing element (21; 39) is implemented on the respective pin (17), which, upon engagement of the pin (17) in a fastening hole (5) of the component (1) allocated thereto, forms a clip-type catch connection therewith.
 8. The fastening device according to claim 1, characterized in that at least one catch lug (21), which splays apart from the respective pin (17) in a yielding manner, is provided as a securing part, which engages behind the edge of the relevant fastening hole (5) in the securing position when the securing part is inserted into the fastening hole (5).
 9. The fastening device according to claim 1, characterized in that the axial spacing between the bottom side of the respective catch lug (21) and the top side of the carrier part (29; 35) facing toward it is selected to be less than the total of the thickness dimensions of the elastically yielding seal unit (31) and the component (1) in the adjoining region of its fastening hole (5).
 10. The fastening device according to claim 1, characterized in that when the holding part (7) is fixed on the component (1), the seal unit (31) presses flatly against the carrier part (29; 35) like on the component (1) on one side thereof, and the respective securing part (21) on the opposite side of the component (1), which faces away from the seal unit (31), engages on this component (1) with a pre-definable holding force, which results from the restoring force of the elastically pretensioned seal unit (1) in its fixed state on the component (1).
 11. The fastening device according to claim 1, characterized in that diametrically arranged catch lugs (21) are provided on the respective pin (17).
 12. The fastening device according to claim 1, characterized in that holding part (7), pin (17), and catch lugs (21) are integrally injection-molded from plastic.
 13. The fastening device according to claim 1, characterized in that the respective carrier part is formed from a flat carrier plate (29) or, to form a spacing between its footprint (19) provided for contact on the component (1) and the associated fastener part (9) having the adhering or hooking elements (15), it is implemented as a spacer body (35), which has a rectangular shape having a depression, which forms the support surface (33) for the fastener part (9) and is enclosed on the edges by a protruding frame (37).
 14. The fastening device according to claim 1, characterized in that a centrally located pin (17) is provided on the rectangular footprint (19) of the holding part (7) provided for contact on the component (1).
 15. The fastening device according to claim 1, characterized in that grooves (39) having radially protruding ridges are provided as the securing parts on the outer side of the respective pin (17).
 16. A fastening system for attaching components (1), such as plates, panels, or the like, to third components (3), such as vehicle body components, having at least one fastening device according to one of claims 1 to 15, which has at least one holding part (7), which is fixable on one side thereof by means of at least one protruding fastening means (17), which is arranged on a planar carrier part (29; 35) on the component (1), and is provided, on its side opposite to the carrier part (29; 35), with a fastener part (9), which can be engaged with a corresponding fastener part (11) on the third component (3), wherein a seal unit (31; 41) is provided at least on the fastening means (17).
 17. The fastening system according to claim 16, characterized in that the holding part (7) has, as the fastening means, at least one protruding pin (17), on which at least one securing part (21; 39) is implemented, which, upon insertion of the respective pin (17) into an assigned fastening hole (5) of the component (1), forms a clip-like catch connection therewith. 